- Eli Thayer
Eli Thayer (1819-1899) was a member of the
United States House of Representatives from 1857 to 1861. Thayer was born in Mendon,Massachusetts . He graduated fromWorcester Academy in 1840, fromBrown University in 1845, and in 1848 foundedOread Institute , a school for young women in Worcester, Massachusetts.He is chiefly remembered for his connection with the "
Kansas Crusade ," the purpose of which was to secure the admission ofKansas to the Union as a free State. With this aim in view, early in 1854 Thayer organized theMassachusetts Emigrant Aid Company to send anti-slavery settlers to theKansas Territory . In 1855, this organization joined with theNew York Emigrant Aid Company and the name was changed to theNew England Emigrant Aid Company .Local leagues were established whose members emigrated to Kansas and established towns. The Company provided hotels for temporary accommodation and provided sawmills and other improvements. Settlements were established at Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, and Osawatomie. The clash of these settlers and other "
Free-Stater " Northerners with proslavery settlers spawned the violence ofBleeding Kansas .Thayer wanted to establish an antislavery colony in Virginia, but land was too expensive. He then looked to western Virginia. Thayer chose to build his colony at the mouth of
Twelvepole Creek in Wayne County, Virginia now West Virginia. He named his town Ceredo after the goddess Ceres. The town was founded in 1857.Bibliography
* Thayer, Eli (1889). "History of the Kansas Crusade: Its Friends and its Foes"
* Napier, Mose. "Ceredo: It's Founders and Families"External links
* [http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=2157 Emigrant Aid groups]
*CongBio|T000145
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